Visions in Blue
by ToasterPoet
Summary: Madame Maxime kept all of her students from being noticed, touting them as decoration for the presentation of her real focus: Fleur...but what about those girls in blue?
1. Girls in Blue

The giant carriage that had formerly held the select students of Beauxbatons now sat still on the makeshift runway beside the castle. Bewildered but disciplined, the students now stood politely and silently in lines as their headmistress slowly exited the vehicle. The castle was no more magical than their own palace-like academy in Southern France. But then, it's different to have a man four times the size of you come to lead the winged horses away when you're accustomed to serenading wood nymphs and ice masterpieces.

"We shall make our entranze at zee castle now," Madame Maxime announced, her voice thick with a perfected French accent.

The students made no sign to show they had heard her, but followed as she led the way slowly up the steep grassy hill now slick with mud. Her chosen favorite, Fleur Delacour, strode like a princess in her wake. They had arrived in an unlikely fashion, were in no hurry to get to their destination, and would most likely not take lightly to waiting for an entrance. Beauxbatons was the elite and disciplined school, and no one told its head what to do.

* * *

Tonight the great hall was filled with not only the growls of hungry stomachs but whispers of excitement and anticipation. Albus Dumbledore had just announced to the school that they would be hosting the famous Triwizard Tournament. The idea of something dangerous and possibly more exciting than Quidditch had their full attention. Most of them had yet to experience something that memorable, and were looking forward to it as a chance to become just as famous as Harry Potter himself.

"Please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic," Dumbledore shouted over the whispering voices.

The doors at the edge of the hall were thrust open as hundreds of heads snapped simultaneously in their direction. Madame Maxime towered over her uniformly dressed students, who began their customary walking down the center, flaunting their fairy-like beauty. Their headmistress may act younger than she should, but she sure knew how to capture attention. Every one of her girls had been carefully selected for their grades, fitness, and beauty. She put some of her more attention-grabbing girls toward the front of the group, keeping her toted doll face, Fleur, by her side. She made sure that everyone's hair was neatly pulled back in a ponytail, certain that this would keep the spotlight from shifting from her prize student.

After the girls ran down the aisle in choreographed grace, they were followed by two other girls. One who flipped neat back handsprings and back walkovers, and another who did graceful ballet turns. Both of them were talented, like every other student, yet neither was there to be noticed. Madame Maxime had organized it precariously so that they were merely dressed to impress before the presentation of her real focus: Fleur. The pretty part-veela girl strode confidently down the aisle with her young sister, her head held proudly in the air.

The music that had materialized from no where to accompany their performance faded away, and the Hogwarts students applauded loudly. Most of the male population was doing the clapping (and whistling, for that matter), as the girls merely put their hands together for the sake of politeness.

The girls stood to the side as the Durmstrang boys entered, becoming the main focus of attention. Fleur followed Maxime haughtily as the other students were ushered aside. Although the focus of Hogwarts may have been on the Durmstrang boys, Beauxbaton's girls were instead returning to their favorite topic of conversation.

"Good lord, look at her standing there like she's all that."

"I can't believe we're even pretending this is fair."

"I so wish that was me."

"What's so special about being part-veela?"

The girls were careful not to be heard by their headmistress, but gossiped without limit to each other about the scorned Fleur. It wasn't exactly a secret that Madame Maxime was only going to allow Fleur to become champion, selection process or not.

After the heavily clothed Durmstrang students and their Quidditch star Viktor Krum had made their entrance, it was time to begin the feast. Madame Maxime made a gesture to allow the students to find their own seats. They all followed Fleur though, knowing that this was an almost unspoken command. The blonde girl took up residence at an extra length of table added to Ravenclaw. Obediently, the rest followed, a few glancing longingly toward the Durmstrang boys seated among the Slytherins.

Fleur had as usual made herself evident as the leader by taking up a post at the end of the table closest to the teachers, in clear view of Madame Maxime. Her few 'associates', as she didn't really have friends, sat around her and her sister. The other students filled in any empty space.

At the end of the table farthest Fleur sat three girls. As they took their seats next to each other, one of them spoke.

"Thank goodness that's over."

The girl already sitting across from her nodded in quiet agreement, but didn't say anything. The third cracked a small smile, and after making sure her headmistress wasn't looking, began mocking her friend.

"Did you honestly _see_ yourself back there, Dani?" She said, her voice crackling with amusement. She quickly followed this question up by drawing herself to full height and imitating the melodramatic sighs of the girls. Dani had been the one leading the group of girls. Her straight black hair fell to the middle of her back, and slate blue eyes slyly mocked everything around her. She was very fit from the physical classes required at the academy.

"I know, that whole show was bloody ridiculous," Dani agreed. A few of the girls sitting by them gave her agreeing looks, but dared not say anything for fear of either Fleur or Madame's wrath.

There was a distinct sound of a stomach growling before the second spoke up again.

"Mmmm…I'm soooo hungry," She groaned, clutching her stomach and whining, "When's the food going to be served?"

As if on cue, the empty golden dishes before them became filled with mouthwatering food. Some were French delicacies that the girls were familiar with, others were heavy and crude-looking Northern foods, and many were meat pies and dishes that looked somewhere in the middle of the two extremities. The hungry girl immediate began piling on everything, heavy or not. The girls sitting closest to Fleur gave her arrogant looks of disgust as they carefully placed only the lightest of dishes on their own plates.

"Aimee, you're going to get a stomachache if you eat too much of the heavier foods all at once," The third girl said quietly.

Aimee looked doubtfully at the piece of messily sliced steak she was about to place in her mouth before asking, "Why?"

The third girl replied, "Because your stomach is only used to eating the light foods they serve back at Beauxbatons. Heavy food isn't bad, but it will fill you up faster, and you'll have a stomachache tomorrow."

Aimee frowned.

"Alright then…I'll only eat a bit. After all, I've got to save room for dessert, right?"

She cracked a grin good-naturedly and Dani smirked at her from across the table.

Aimee was by far the smallest of the three girls. She had been the one turning handsprings and back walkovers, and had been chosen to come to the tournament only because of her tiny agile body. She had in the beginning had platinum blonde hair to rival the Delacours and their veela grandmother, but had cut it at her shoulders without layering it, so that it just barely fit in the small ponytail. She also had big dark brown eyes that had gotten her out of trouble more then once. She was in reality a full year older than Dani, but looked a year younger, and was cared for like a younger sister.

"I wonder where we'll be staying," Dani asked, finishing off her plate and sitting back to wait for desserts.

The third girl answered her, "We're staying in the carriage."

"Eww…" Aimee said, her voice dropping to a disgusted whisper.

"I know, who wants to stay in that smelly old thing," Dani said.

"No…that man just stabbed the other man's hand with a fork."

The other two followed her gaze to the staff table to see that she hadn't been lying.

"Oh that is so gross…" Dani mumbled, covering her mouth with one hand and looking like she had suddenly lost her appetite.

Aimee giggled at her but continued to eat.

"What arefh we goin-na oo when we get bhack oo a carrage?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Aimee," The third girl reprimanded lightly.

Aimee nodded and obediently swallowed.

"What are we going to do when we get back to the carriage, Lynn?"

Lynn shrugged slightly, "Madame Maxime will probably insist that everyone go to bed."

Aimee pouted. "Well that stinks."

"Doesn't nearly every aspect of our lives?" Dani said.

"Actually," Aimee replied smiling, "I do kind of like these hats." She gestured toward the stylish blue hats that they all wore as uniform. "They're wicked cool."

Dani broke out laughing and Lynn smiled slightly.

The main dishes disappeared then, and more varied desserts appeared in their place.

"I have a question," Aimee announced to her two friends midway through her second large helping of ice cream.

"Go on then," Dani said.

"What's Quidditch?"

"Why do you ask?" Lynn said, confused by the term.

"I kept hearing the Hogwarts headmaster saying something about them giving up Quidditch for the tournament. Everyone seemed so awfully disappointed. I want to know what it is," Aimee said, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"I'm sure this school had a library, perhaps they have a book about it," Lynn offered.

Quidditch, as much a way of life as it was for Hogwarts and most of the wizarding community, did not exist at Beauxbatons. The students were told to focus only on their studies, although they did learn to fly brooms. Sports were not considered ladylike behavior, after all.

"You know normally I would make fun of you going to books for an answer as always," Dani said, "but I'm not quite sure that's something we'd want to ask someone."

Lynn nodded.

Lynn was two years older than Aimee, and was in her seventh and final year, same as Fleur. She had been the one doing turns down the aisle. She was well aware that the only reason she and Aimee had been chosen over the Delacours was that Maxime didn't want them getting sweat spots before the feast. Not that it mattered, seeing as they were wearing a fine silk. She had long, waist-length golden and slightly curly hair that had to be tied into a ponytail so it looked shorter for uniformity. She was shorter than Fleur, but just as pretty with the willowy figure of a ballet dancer. Her eyes were kind and a pale blue-ish silver, but were regularly fixed upon the ground or else words printed in one book or another.

After the feast ended, Dumbledore unveiled the Goblet of Fire and dismissed the students. The Hogwarts students milled about on their own, organizing the newly sorted first years and bustling about with friends. Beauxbatons simply stood and followed Madame Maxime's tall, dragon hide clad form outside to the carriage.


	2. Quidditch Through The Ages

Lynn walked slowly through the library, keeping her head down. Aimee insisted on knowing what 'Quidditch' was, so she had been obligated to go to the library for a book about it. The idea of a lone Beauxbatons student seemed to be attracting the attention of the Hogwarts students studying there, though, as they were used to Fleur and her lot traveling in packs. She had also had to grow accustomed to subtle venomous looks shot at her from the females of Hogwarts, who were after only a day already prejudiced against all of Beauxbatons.

She took a turn down an aisle labeled 'Wizarding Sports and Entertainment', and ran her eyes along the numerous titles. It seemed she had little luck at first, as she skimmed unsuccessfully through such titles as _Gnome Throwing and it's Various Forms_ and _The Secret Life of Mandrake Athletics_. At last, she spotted a rather worn-looking book with a brilliantly green cover, titled _Quidditch Through the Ages_. Assuming this was as good as it was going to get she reached out a light blue gloved hand and retrieved it from its shelf.

Flipping to the Table of Contents, she looked at the chapter titles. Satisfied, she moved to close the book when a voice sounded from behind her.

"Interested in Quidditch?"

Lynn jumped and turned around, startled at the sudden sound. A boy clad in Hogwarts robes with a red and gold tie peeking from the collar was standing in front of her. He had light brown hair and brown eyes that stared curiously at her.

"Huh?" Lynn managed, still a bit startled.

The boy gave her an amused look and pointed at the book she was gripping in her hands.

"Oh!" Lynn realized, "Um…well, actually we don't have Quidditch at Beauxbatons. Just…wondering what it…was…" She trailed off uncertainly, as the boy was still staring at her.

"You don't know what Quidditch is?" The boy asked, clearly not believing her.

Lynn blushed, suddenly feeling very oblivious and a bit embarrassed.

"Um…you know, I should --- I should really be going now," She mumbled quietly, stepping around the boy to leave.

"I didn't mean to ---" The boy started, turning to apologize to the girl he feared he might have offended. But Lynn had already left the library, and was on her way out the castle, suddenly keen on being back in the company of her own schoolmates.

* * *

"Wow Lynn, are you sure you'll let me read this before you?" Aimee gasped over breakfast that same day.

Lynn shook her head silently, choosing to eat her egg instead of replying. Clearly the book was a treasure to Aimee, who had quickly grown excited after only ten minutes of reading in the carriage. Dani and Lynn had been forced to place a Silencing Charm on her until she calmed down, as not to attraction attention from Maxime stationed in her private room close by. Since then, they had been subject to quite a few of her random outbursts. Although they were unpredictably random and becoming irritable to Dani, Lynn had to admit that they only heightened her desire to read the book.

She hadn't forgotten the boy in the library, and was now feeling more and more like she was missing out on something. Fortunately, she would know a lot more should she ever encounter the boy again, as Aimee had done her best to outline the basics of the game for her two friends.

"It says here that they actually had at first used a tiny bird called a Snidget before the Golden Snitch, and nearly drove them to extinction." Aimee gushed.

Dani showed no sign of interest, although Lynn looked up at the mention of a magical creature.

"What finally convinced them to change?" Lynn asked quietly.

"The Wizards' Council was newly headed by Elfrida Clagg, who made the Golden Snidget a protected species," Aimee said, so quick to answer that Lynn was certain she had been waiting for the question. "Figures it was a woman who finally brought them to their senses."

Dani shrugged, "Boys aren't all that bad."

"I know that," Aimee said indignantly.

"Sure, I was only making certain."

Aimee snorted. "Yes, and you were only making certain because they happen to be your favorite hobby!"

"Speaking of which," Lynn said, her head still bent over her plate but her eyes looking up, "Are there any new school sightings of yours that we should be worried about?"

Dani smirked and gave her a sly look.

"As a matter of fact…"

"Oh no, not again!"

"Oh, bugger off Aimee."

"But it's only been a day! There should be some kind of requirement on how long a period of peace we have."

As usual, Aimee and Dani disagreed openly and bickered about Dani's characteristic liking for males.

"Come off it beloved one, you can listen through another yet," Dani said.

Lynn sighed slightly, but motioned for Dani to go ahead, having decided it better to weather the storm sooner rather than later.

Dani took a deep breath to prepare herself before beginning, "Alright, so first off a couple of the boys from the opening ceremony of the Triwizard Cup --- You know, from Durmstrang? They tend to be rather thickheaded though apparently, and I could also do without the accent confusion." Lynn nodded. "And then there's that Hufflepuff boy I heard a few of the Hogwarts girls gossiping about, he is rather handsome. And then there's---" Dani continued, clearly enjoying herself as she rambled on in her regular routine of picking out favorites among the boys.

Aimee groaned and once again immersed herself in _Quidditch Through the Ages_. Lynn found herself wishing that she herself had such a book. As much as she loved both her friends, Dani's rants could get a bit wearing to say the least. Dani had quickly become lost in her own little world, listing off names as she twirled a fork around her empty plate and gazed into the ceiling. Lynn found her eyes traveling around the Great Hall.

Beauxbatons students were no longer obligated to sit at the end of the Ravenclaw table, at least not when Fleur wasn't around. The girls made a point of rising earlier on in the morning, knowing that Madame Maxime allowed the Delacours exclusively to sleep in later. They now sat at the Hufflepuff table for a change of pace, which was probably the reason for Dani's overhearing the gossip.

The other tables were only slightly inhabited, as clearly the Durmstrang students were not accustomed to waking early, and Hogwarts kids chose not to. The Slytherin table was entirely empty, Hufflepuff was nearly the same, Ravenclaw had the most with close to ten early risers, and Gryffindor held a mere total of one. As Lynn had read in _Hogwarts, A History_, Ravenclaw was the house of wit and learning, so obviously the early risers were hoping to get a head start on their studying.

The only girl sitting at the Gryffindor table had rather curly brown hair and was flipping through a textbook at her leisure while eating her breakfast. Lynn's gaze rested on her for a moment, noting that the color of her tie was the same as the boy in the library's had been. The girl looked up and smiled a bit uncertainly at Lynn when she saw her looking. Lynn smiled sincerely back, hoping to disintegrate a bit of the Beauxbatons prejudice most females at Hogwarts now held. She turned back to face Dani, who was still rattling off names.

"I hate to interrupt you darling, but we ought to get going if we want to find our first class," Lynn said, cautiously choosing a point in time where Dani had been forced to pause for a breath.

Dani grumbled an, "All right," and nudged Aimee out of her book before rising.

They exited the Great Hall and began their search of the castle's confusing maze to locate their class. Lynn had learned from her reading that it was easy to get lost at first, and did not want to be late for class. After all, Madame Maxime would have them cleaning winged horse dung if she heard of them doing anything to harm the school's reputation.


	3. Dungeon Walls

As they were all in different years, Lynn, Dani, and Aimee all went off to different first classes. Lynn went to Advanced Care of Magical Creatures (despite the fact that she had already done N.E.W.T.s), Dani set off for History of Magic for fourth years, and Aimee went off to her Potions class. Unfortunately, her friends were not able to accompany her past the dungeon entrance, and she was quickly distracted by the apparently increasingly amusing game of counting the stones on the walls. The result was that she was ten minutes late for class…._Snape's_ class.

Aimee pushed the heavy door open with fervor, having only just realized that she needed to be getting to class. She underestimated her strength and the door slammed open, knocking against the wall noisily and attracting the attention of the already seated students. Aimee took no notice of the fact that she had an entire classroom of all Hogwarts students staring at her, and instead rushed on into the classroom. Sprinting in, she slipped on the cold stone and wobbled over. Clutching desperately at her hat that had toppled off her head with the momentum, she righted herself with a stifled giggle and blew hairs out of her face.

"May I _help_ you?" said a rather venomous looking greasy man from front of room, surveying her with obvious distaste.

Aimee shrugged and looked back at him.

"Is this the Potions class taught by mister….er…Snape?" She asked.

"Yes," Snape drawled, "And it is a _sixth_ year class. May I redirect you to the first year classes?'

A group of the girls who happened to be sitting by where Aimee stood sniggered, eager to see a Beauxbatons girl be put in her place.

Aimee gasped, "I am a _fifth_ year, thank you very much!"

Snape remained cold and expressionless.

"You fail to present your point, young lady, as you would still be in the wrong class." His oily voice sneered.

"Actually," Aimee said, now sure of her footing and gazing around the room with some interest, "I _am_ supposed to be here." A few of the sniggering girls shot her doubtful looks, but she continued. "I'm a year ahead in a few of my classes, this being one of them."

Snape showed shock only briefly before returning to his stoic expression.

"You are aware, however, that you arrived ten minutes late for class and have now held it up for a further five."

Aimee stared right back at him.

"Oh…erm…sorry about that…you know, mighty interesting walls you've got here," She said, grinning innocently back at him.

"Take a seat Ms…"

"Aimee Hollyntov," Aimee supplied.

This started up a few of the more persistent gossipers in murmuring about ridiculously fancy names as she searched for a seat. Finding only one near the back by a pair of red headed boys, she flounced down and placed her bag on the table to listen to the Potions lesson.

"Psst," She thought she heard someone whisper.

Dismissing it airily as her imagination, she tried to listen to Snape's lecture on the wizarding world's many poisons and their properties. Within moments she was completely bored and couldn't bear to listen to the monotony for another moment, opting instead to retrieve the Quidditch book from her bag and read it under the desk.

"Psst!"

This time Aimee whipped around in alarm to see the two red headed boys, who she now realizing were twins, staring at her.

"What?"

"What was that?!"

Aimee glanced around confusedly.

"What was what?"

"That?!' One of them said, gesturing toward the door that had been closed since her rather eccentric entrance.

"Oh," Aimee said grinning, "I got, erm…distracted on my way here. Might as well make an entrance, right?"

The second grinned, "It was bloody brilliant." The other nodded along with him. "I'm Fred by the way."

"And I'm George," His twin followed up, both nodding simultaneously to her in greeting and holding out their hands.

"Aimee," She said, shaking their hands cheerfully.


	4. Name in the Hallway

The first task had concluded a week ago, and many of Hogwarts' females had been forced to re-establish their impression of Beauxbatons. Fleur had defeated her dragon, and actually gained support among the other schools. Now that she was acknowledged as a sole female in the competition, and a fully capable one at that, girls were beginning to soften up a bit with a sense of gender unity.

Aimee had, as it turned out, nearly all of her classes with the Weasley twins Fred and George. Dani had solidified her attraction toward the primary of the two Hogwarts champions, Cedric Diggory, and could now be spotted roaming the halls confidently past groups of Hufflepuffs in hopes of sighting him. With Dani pursuing her newest target and Aimee busy hatching harebrained schemes with her new friends, Lynn spent most of her time in the library. She had always preferred the subject of Care of Magical Creatures, finding the magical beings much more fascinating then the troubles of her fellow classmates, and had spent a good deal of time reading about them.

Unfortunately for her, she found that most of her classes were with Fleur and her associates, so that she was almost constantly living in the shadow of the picture perfect blonde and her arrogant assistants. Fleur had always been aware of Lynn's existence, and aware of the fact that her beauty was more than a challenge to her own, but apparently preferred to treat her as though she did not exist. When she did speak to her, it was only to ask her to pass something. Her associates preferred to shun her, or else order her to run errands for them.

Now Lynn was walking along the hallway with the other girls in blue. It was yet another unspoken command that they were to walk following Fleur when they shared classes with her, and the now Triwizard champion did nothing to oppose this. On the contrary, she very much encouraged it. Lynn had never been one to cause a riot, so she followed her classmates obediently and without question.

They were just coming from a Charms class, a class in which the majority of the other girls had chosen to flirt with the Hogwarts and Durmstrang boys instead of listening to tiny Professor Flitwick. Having been forced to exit the classroom immediately at Fleur's command, she was still trying to force books into her bag. As she wasn't devoting very much of her attention to walking, she did not see a collision before it happened.

"Oof!"

Her books were forced out of her hands, having not been placed properly back in her bag, and she fell to the ground with considerable force. Frantically she scrambled about, trying to gather her things so she could catch up with Fleur, who had continued on without noticing. She gathered up everything in sight and stuffed it into her bag as quickly as she could, but knew she was missing something. Looking around for the last book, she saw a hand appear before her. In it was the very textbook she was looking for.

"Need this?" A voice asked from above her.

Lynn looked up to see the same boy she had encountered in the library. She rose to her feet slowly and took the book from his outstretched hand.

"Thank you," She said quietly, not looking him straight in the eye. Turning on her heel, she prepared to follow in the direction of the others, but the voice held her up.

"Sorry about what I said in the library," The boy said apologetically, "It's just hard for me to imagine not knowing what Quidditch is."

Lynn turned back and studied him for a moment before nodding.

"It's alright…erm, sorry about running into you."

The boy shrugged, "Oliver Wood." He said, holding a hand out politely.

"Pleasure to meet you," Lynn said, shaking his hand but forgetting to give her own name in her anxiety. She hurriedly shoved the last book into her bag and glanced over distractedly toward the corner behind which Fleur had disappeared. "Again, I'm really sorry. I should really be going now though. I'll, erm…see you." She mumbled, starting off in an anxious rush.

Oliver stood watching her go and shook his head. As he turned to continue on to his class, he mumbled, "No name, eh?"


	5. The Troubles of Pretty Wands

Dani had just about had it with studying. She was sitting in Transfiguration and, having already completed with transforming a porcupine into a pile of pins and back, had been told to study for an upcoming written test. As Professor McGonagall had been watching at the time, she had opened her textbook and begun to read. After only three minutes she had given up. It wasn't that the material was difficult. She had discovered that Hogwarts classes seemed to be a significant step behind Beauxbatons classes. It was that she just plain bored herself silly trying to memorize it.

She chanced a look up to see if McGonagall was watching. To her delight, she was preoccupied at the moment with trying to help a confused looking boy with rather goofy-looking front teeth. It seemed he had somehow managed to turn his porcupine purple. Taking the moment to lounge in the stiff chair, Dani gazed longingly toward the clock. Classes no longer really held her interest at this point. The lack of challenge, along with lack of friendliness from her peers, combined with the fact that no tall dark and handsome boys happened to be present, had somewhat diminished her will to attend class. She still showed up, of course, but often just finished the work and daydreamed for the remainder of the time.

"Ow!"

"Ronald, if you hadn't hit it, it wouldn't have done the same to you!"

Dani looked over at the sound of commotion to see a group of Hogwarts students clothed in Gryffindor robes. The red headed boy was rubbing his arm and wincing while his friend, a bushy haired brunette who had also already completed the work, reprimanded him. A third boy next to them looked over for only a moment at his bickering friends before returning to his own porcupine with detached interest.

An amused smirk crossed Dani's face at the sight of a trio of friends acting the way friends do. She rather missed having her own friends in her classes. At the old school, they had at least been able to see each other during longer passing periods or lunch, but now she barely saw either of her friends until the end of the day. And by then, they would all be thoroughly exhausted by the day's efforts.

It wasn't only the studying that had been wearing them down. Madame Maxime had been paying less and less attention to anyone but dear Fleur, and consequently cared less about their health and sanity. Twice this week she had grounded Aimee to the carriage after she found out about her and the Weasleys' numerous pranks. Dani had been sentenced to night lookout for three days when she had been out roaming the halls too long for Maxime's liking.

It was Lynn who got the worst of it though, as usual. Dani clenched her fists angrily just thinking about it. Dani had been walking along by the staff table at lunch one day when she overheard one of the Hogwarts staff members complimenting the headmistress on the 'beautiful young lady' who seemed to exceed all expectations and behave admirably in the classroom. Maxime had thanked her politely at the time, but clearly saw yet another threat to Fleur's spotlight in the subtle reference to Lynn's beauty. She had punished Lynn by having her scrub the carriage inside and out everyday for a week, and serve the Delacours breakfast in the carriage so that they wouldn't have to walk to the Great Hall in the mornings.

If it were physically possible in any way at all, steam would have been rising off of Dani at these thoughts. Although Lynn never complained, still sticking to her argument that there was some amount of goodness in everyone, it was clear that all the extra work was taking its toll on her. She slept less, ate less, and spoke less. She was almost constantly reading, turning to her books as a sort of comfort.

The other students of Beauxbatons had been sympathetic, as they had all been dealt their blows as well. A girl named Laetitia De La Tour had very nearly been slapped across the face after not adding 'ma'am' to the end of her sentence when addressing the headmistress. This had resulted in the formation of a sort of wall around each other, trying to block out Madame Maxime and concentrate on meaningless social issues to relax each other's nerves. The strength of this wall had shown itself only a few days after the First Task. A younger third year named Roslin Tendray, who the girls were close to, had broken her ankle after being tripped by a Slytherin girl.

The headmistress had shown her no sign of sympathy, and insisted that she still attend classes without obstruction. Dani, Aimee, and Lynn, along with a couple other girls, had all brought her breakfast and helped her along to classes as best they could while her ankle healed. All in all, the heightened punishments had actually promoted bonding within the students. After Dani had socked a guy in the face for making fun of Roslin's makeshift ankle cast (earning her a week of shoveling winged horse dung of course), the small girl had shown a new respect for her. She could now be spotted trotting along the hallway with Lynn or her Hogwarts friend, Ginny, between classes, always greeting Dani happily in passing.

Although some of the punishments may have turned out to be blessings in disguise, there was one looming threat from Madame that troubled them all more then the rest…the Yule Ball. Time seemed to be slowly trickling away before the ball…the snow that occasionally covered the ground nowadays was doing an excellent job of reminding them of that.

Dani had held out a small hope that perhaps, miraculously, Cedric Diggory would ask her. This hope vanished when she heard of his asking the Ravenclaw girl Cho Chang, and her former crush and slight obsession vanished along with it.

Aimee and Lynn had both shown no signs of despair over the approaching dance outwardly, although neither had secured dates. Lynn had gotten quite a few offers, all of which she had turned down, and Aimee had developed too much of a reputation as a prankster and troublemaker to attract male interest. Dani knew they would soon be forced to confront the problem though, as Madame had imposed a new rule.

In order to, as she had put it, 'preserve ze rightful rezpect and dignity we 'ave achieved az an eleet institution' they were all to have dates to the ball. Age wasn't an excuse, because the youngest selected girl to be brought along besides Gabrielle Delacour (who had of course been excused) was Roslin. Roslin was only a third year, but still had to attend the ball, as Madame Maxime dismissed the fourth year rule. The small girl seemed to be having more luck then they were apparently, as she told Lynn quite cheerfully one afternoon. Her friend Ginny had managed to get a friend for her date after hearing about Maxime's ridiculous rule.

With little more then a week until the ball, Dani was beginning to panic. Not that she feared Maxime's wrath herself, but she hoped Lynn would give way to one of the offers sometime soon. If there was one thing the girl didn't need right now, it was yet another minor issue to be punished for.

The bell rang, startling her out of her thoughts. Professor McGonagall yelled reminders to the class about homework as they charged out the door. As Dani hefted her bag over her shoulder and followed the crowd, the worries resurfaced in her mind.

Would they be able to get dates?


	6. Snowy Day Stroll

Hermione, Harry, and Ron were walking along in what had at first been relative peacefulness through the fallen snow. The last class of the day had concluded more than half an hour earlier, but they had decided it best to take a walk outside. Days had passed since Hermione let them know she was indeed attending the ball with someone, yet the tension still seemed to be finding ways of resurfacing periodically between her and Ron.

She still refused to tell either of them, or any other soul for that matter, who it was she was going with. Harry was fairly sure that Ron would have asked once more had it not been for the swift and accidental intervention of the Weasley twins. Not three minutes outside in peace, they had been attacked by a pile of snowballs the twins had charmed. They were not the first of innocent bystanders to be targeted as it turned out; Oliver Wood had been sitting grumpily beside them with his arms and legs tied together with holly.

After one admittedly embarrassing snowball fight on Ron's part, they had continued on.

"He's run about in the snow and the soot," George began, placing an arm over Ron's dejectedly slumped figure.

"And is one fine right old chapper to know," Fred continued for his twin.

"But although he's nice hair and a temper to boot."

"We must admit that his aim is quite slow."

"Because…." They both chorused, preparing to launch into their current favorite melody, "He hit the Whomping Willow, he hit the Whomping Willow. Feel bad for this guy, now he's got a black eye 'cause he hit the Whomping Willow!"

The tune ended on a painfully high note and both twins laughed cheerfully. The trio had kept walking all right, but not without the two now flanking them, a freed Oliver striding easily beside them. Ron's eye had indeed turned a brilliantly vivid rainbow of dark colors after being hit by the clearly annoyed tree. Harry reassured his friend by telling him they'd go to Madame Pomfrey, but the continuous singing and merriment from Fred and George was doing nothing for their younger brother's temper.

"Oh come on, ickle Ronniekins," said George, shoving him playfully.

Fred called over from the other side of a laughing Hermione, "Give us a grin, freckle chin!"

Harry resisted the temptation to laugh, desperately telling himself that as a friend he shouldn't find amusement in Ron's pain. Hermione apparently thought differently as she did nothing to hide her own amusement. Next to her, Oliver was only glad to be released of the holly bindings, or as the twins had called them 'shackles of the utmost Christmas spirit'.

"Oh bugger off you two," Ron mumbled, rolling his eyes but concealing a slight smile.

It was hard not to be amused sometimes, even if it was you being bugged.

Fred and George appeared not to have heard his command, and instead feigned deafness and began yet another rousing chorus of 'He hit the Whomping Willow'…This time with a rather Peeves-like jig to go along with it. They passed Hagrid's hut after the second line, and were rounding back towards the entrance of the castle when they heard a commotion nearby.

"Come back here, you little imp!" Came an irritated and distraught voice.

A glance over in its direction revealed two blue-clad figures near the giant Beauxbatons carriage. One was skipping along cheerfully while the other yelled. A third figure exited the carriage as well and made their way toward the other two. Upon recognizing the first figure as Aimee, the twins each took the arm of a confused fourth-year and crouched behind the huge rocks just a ways away from the carriage.

"What on earth are you doing?" Hermione demanded as they were forced to sit behind the structures.

"Shh," Fred told her.

George turned around to explain his twin in a hushed voice, "Just want to see how this lot turns out. Our little Weasley-in-training is out all on her own, you see?" He ended his touching sentiment with a mock loving face.

Hermione scowled at them but crouched down reluctantly, both Ron and Harry leaning over her shoulders, curious for a better look. Oliver rolled his eyes at the twins, but crouched next to them as well.


	7. Lookouts

"Come back!" Dani shouted once more, watching helplessly as Aimee ran in circles around the clearing. The two of them were blissfully unaware that they were being watched.

Aimee only giggled back at her and skipped about in a figure eight fashion.

"Why? There's nothing fun to do in that stuffy old thing!" She turned a neat little back handspring as though to support her point, and then collapsed on her back down on the ground. "Look, Dani! Snow angels!"

Dani rolled her eyes but gave up and leaned against a tree stump sitting in the middle of the clearing.

"You're a hopeless nutcase, I hope you realize that," She informed the careless girl, exasperated.

Aimee looked up from the ground in shock. "Of _course_ I do! Why….why else would I still be here?"

Dani smirked. She couldn't argue with that.

"Aimee," Lynn said quietly, just walking towards them wearily from the carriage. Her eyes were tired, and her arms folded only half-heartedly around herself against the cold air. "Is this really necessary?"

"By all means!"

Dani gave Lynn an apologetic look. "I tried."

Lynn only sighed patiently, but she cast a worried glance toward the castle, where the rest of her schoolmates and the headmistress were.

"Relax, Lynn," Aimee advised from where she was now sitting upside-down in a headstand. "Madame Maxime won't be back for another hour at least."

Lynn didn't take her eyes off the castle, and on the contrary looked even less relaxed.

"Besides," Dani said smirking, "What else can she punish us with?"

Lynn had no answer for her, and Aimee was seemingly distracted with creating her own personal snowman at the moment. Dani continued.

"I mean…she's already grounded Aimee about a bazillion times," Dani stated.

"Five," Aimee corrected her while rolling over a growing snowball.

"Right, I meant five. _Thank you_, Aimee."

Aimee gave her a smart salute and a nod before returning to her snowman.

"Anyway," Dani continued, obviously used to Aimee's failure to grasp sarcasm. "She's grounded Aimee five times, gave me night lookout for three days, made you scrub the carriage inside and out for a week, made you practically wait hand and foot on that spoiled brat Fleur and her sister for a week, made me shovel winged horse dung for a week, AND!" She ended her sentence with some impressive hand gestures and a crescendo.

"Let us not forget that we are here 'guarding' the carriage while the rest of them go mingle and act pretty with their new friends. And why?," She said bitterly, "Because some bloody son of a flobberworm was _stupid_ enough to ask her about the 'beautiful young lady' who was 'possibly even more beautiful than the champion' that he happened to see in the hallway."

Dani was, at this point, ranting and raving with full out hand gestures and quotation fingers. Not only that, but her voice had risen considerably, and the hideaways behind the rocks had absolutely no problem hearing her.

Lynn's head had gone from staring worriedly towards the castle to bowing itself in shame. She hadn't wanted for something like this to happen ever, and the fact that it did was beginning to make her wish she'd never come.

"Oh, way to make her feel like Crup crap, Dani!" said Aimee, "Honestly…you'd think you were one of Fleur's friends."

Dani gasped. "Take that back!"

"No!"

"Take…it…back!"

"Make me!"

And it was the usual bickering that resulted in a screaming Aimee being chased around the clearing by a raging Dani.

"Oi, Aimee! Why are you always being chased?!" Fred called from where he now stood behind the rock.

The rest of the hideaways stood with him. Lynn suddenly looked almost a bit frightened, Dani stopped chasing Aimee in her confusion, and Aimee kept running in circles while shouting a retort.

"Why's your hair always so funny?" She shouted, unfazed by his just popping out from behind a rock.

Fred gasped. "How dare you!"

The others behind him and George chuckled, Ron now in a considerably lightened mood. Hearing their laughter reminded Aimee of the presence of the other students.

"Who're they?" She questioned, reserving further insults of Fred's hairstyle for a later time.

His twin answered for him.

"This sorry-looking fellow here would be our brother Ronniekins." George said, ruffling Ron's hair gleefully.

"It's Ron," Ron corrected him as hair-ruffling passed.

"This is the famous Harry Potter," George continued, ignoring Harry's instinctive grimace.

"And this here is the lovely Hermione Granger!" He finished, holding his hands out to showcase the final fourth year. "Their lot's all in their fourth year. Never minding them, though, who're your fellow fairies Tinkerbell?"

Aimee ignored the fact that she had just been called a fairy.

"Hey idjit, you left one out!" She declared, pointing to Oliver still standing beside George.

"This, my noticeably tiny friend," Fred said, ignoring Aimee's scowl.

"Is the charming bloke himself," George continued.

"The Quidditch captain with the most _inspiring_ speeches of blunt honesty," Fred stated.

"The one, the only," George continued once more, getting ready for the big bang.

"Oliver Wood," Lynn finished for them, finally recognizing the boy from the library and hallway.

Aimee and Dani both looked equally confounded, but the twins simply turned their attention to Lynn with indifference.

"A psychic!" They proclaimed, pretending to fall to their knees dramatically and groveling at her feet.

"You've met?" Hermione questioned, a faint hint of amusement finding its way into her voice.

"We've met," Oliver confirmed. "Twice actually; the second time a rather painful collision of a meeting."

"I said I was sorry about that!" Lynn defended immediately.

"I know, I know," said Oliver, holding his hands up defensively, "I'm just saying it's not everyday I get run into in the hallway, and then run away _from_ in the very same hallway without so much as a name."

Lynn bit her lip, realizing once again that she had failed the mandatory rules of courtesy so enforced at Beauxbatons.

"Well," said Aimee, "Allow me to formally introduce my dear friend. The seventh year Lynn Poésy."

Hermione smiled pleasantly back at her. "I saw you in the library the other day."

"Wouldn't surprise me, she spends half her time there," Dani said.

"It's a nice library," Lynn muttered, defending her cause to the ever-smirking Dani.

"And this," Aimee continued, "Would be the magnificent Daniella Ytrevois."

She finished her introduction with a flourish of one hand, the other stroking an invisible moustache.

"You're in our classes, aren't you?" said Harry.

"Yes. And as monotonous as it seems at times, I have you all to thank for countless entertaining moments…like porcupines for example," Dani said, sending Ron a meaningful look.

Ron scowled at the memory, but covered it up by demanding of Aimee, "Who're you, then?"

"I'm Aimee," She informed him matter-of-factly.

"She's our newest find," said George proudly.

"Should've seen the entrance she made to the first class with Snape!" Fred added.

Dani sent Aimee an accusing glare. She had conveniently not had time to share the story with Dani and Lynn, choosing instead to focus on an interesting Defense Against the Dark Arts Lesson. Seeing Dani's glare, Aimee seemed to shrink back sheepishly.

"This is a story we have yet to hear," said Dani.

"I swear it wasn't that bad," Aimee said quickly.

"Did you break anything?" Lynn asked, regarding her quietly with a penetrating gaze.

"No."

Lynn's gaze softened, and she seemed perfectly satisfied with this answer. Likewise, Dani only shrugged and muttered, "Well there's been worse," under her breath.

"Erm…so did you blackmail anyone into the ball yet?" asked Aimee.

George looked up with an air of superiority, "I'm going with Angelina."

Aimee blinked and exchanged glances with Fred before the both of them burst out laughing.

"What?" George demanded.

They didn't answer, instead continuing to laugh at his pompous demeanor.

"At least _I_ have a date," He grumbled.

"We have dates too," said Fred.

Dani and Hermione both fixed him with doubtful looks. Aimee looked just as confused and stopped laughing.

"Yeah," He continued, "Aimee's going with me, right?" Aimee blinked and continued looking confused. "Cause everyone knows we'll never find dates anyways!" He reasoned.

Aimee shrugged and turned back to her snowman, which had been smashed during Dani's chase.

Hermione gave both the boys a distant look that told them clearly not to bring up that she already had a date.

"Who're you going with," George asked Ron, "Eloise Midgen?"

"No!" Ron stated hotly.

"He's going with Padma Patil," Harry explained, "I'm going with Parvati."

"I'm almost disappointed," George said, still shaking his head as though he'd always dreamed Ron would ask Eloise Midgen.

"Hey, you're little sister's Ginny right?" Dani asked.

"Yeah."

"She's a friend of Roslin, a third year friend of ours. Helped her get someone to go with her a while back."

"Oh," Ron said, as though suddenly remembering something, "Wasn't she ranting about something that had to do with someone named Roslin, Harry? I 'member now! Something about Maxime wanting you all to have dates…She went on for ages about it."

"It's true," Aimee said, "She says we've all got to have dates in order to…erm…preserve the, um…"

She trailed off, looking to Lynn for help.

"To preserve the 'rightful respect and dignity we have achieved as an elite institution'" Lynn and Dani chorused, Dani in a mocking falsetto.

"Oh it's an institution all right," She spat, "A mental institution…the head's a bloody head case!"

Lynn scolded her, "Don't let her hear you saying that."

"I thought I was a head case?" Aimee asked from the ground.

"No, you're a _nutcase_," Dani said, waving her hand dismissingly.

"Oh," said Aimee, before turning her attention back to the three fourth years, "You lot got some dateless bloke to go with Dani?"

Hermione shrugged, Ron shrugged, and Harry actually spent a moment contemplating it.

"Well," He started after a moment of thought, "I don't think Seamus has a date...or Neville."

Hermione immediately snapped at him, "I _told_ you, Neville's already got one!"

Harry winced. "Ok, ok…"

"Should we tell Seamus you'll go with him?" Ron asked Dani, looking somewhat disgruntled that he had had to actually look for a date.

Dani shrugged back at him.

"Sure. Madame at least won't be able to kill the two of us," She said, nodded toward Aimee. "What are you going to do?" She asked Lynn.

"Um…actually….I agreed to go with him," Lynn said slowly, pointing to Oliver and enunciating each word to further point out that Dani had missed something.

Aimee and the twins exchanged glances before all cracking up. An entire conversation had been missed by Dani and the trio while they had been talking.

"Oh good times, good times," George said, wiping the corner of his eye.

"Suppose we'd better be off then," said Fred, once again taking Hermione by the crook of the arm and steering her and her friends away.

"See you!" Aimee called, placing a small lopsided head on the top of her snowman.

"We should go back in now, Aimee," said Lynn, putting her hands on the younger girl's shoulders and turning the carriage.

"All right," Aimee mumbled, casting one last reluctant glance toward the vast piles of white fluffy snow before allowing herself to be lead toward their temporary home.


	8. Morning

Lynn breathed in deeply, watching the fog form from her breath in the cool air. Snow remained on the ground, but had melted off the very tops of the pines of the Forbidden Forest. The last snowfall had been a week ago, amounting to the longest time without snow for nearly a month. Aimee was drastically disappointed, but had cheered up when Lynn renewed the beloved Quidditch book for her.

Beside her walked Dani and Aimee, both looking somewhat ruffled at being sent for by a wayward owl at seven o' clock on a Saturday. The tiny fellow had bumped hopelessly against the carriage window above Dani's bed (otherwise known as a small mass of thin blankets), until she had taken pity on it and let it in.

_Dearest Aimee, Lynn, and Dani,_

_We send you this borrowed bird of majesty with news of a positively brilliant gift. Don't bother bringing your book, Aimee, it'll do you no good. Meet us down by the Quidditch pitch. It's hard to miss really, just don't walk off into the forest or anything._

_From,_

_Your beloved twins of goodness and light: Fred and George_

_P.S. We've managed to wake Wood as well. Let's just say we took care of alarm clock and shower when we woke him._

Their letter was written with little formality, unless you counted the mock politeness of their usual dialogue. Aimee had doubts about not being allowed her book, as it was beginning to double as a security blanket for the girl, but agreed to come along with the promise of a nice breakfast afterward. Dani couldn't go back to sleep anyway, so they both teamed up to wake Lynn.

"There it is," Aimee grumbled, her voice dry and raspy from only just waking up.

She nodded off toward a looming gigantic stadium-like structure that neared with every step. Not much was visible over the towering outer-wall, but Lynn swore that she saw a flying figure dart up every once in a while. Each time though, it flew out of sight just as quickly, so that she blamed her tired eyes for having not seen anything at all.

At long last they arrived at an entrance in the wall. Footsteps before them in the snow had led them to it, so they were fairly sure it was the correct one. They climbed up winding stairs, only to reach the top of the rounded seating area.

"Oi! Down here!" Came a remarkably high-spirited voice for this early in the morning.

Three blue-topped heads looked down as one over the steeply sloping side to see a familiar red head. His twin stood next to him, along with a sleepy-looking Oliver who stood looking off into the clouds with his hands in his pockets.

Climbing down the steps again, Dani grumbling all the way, they continued down the hallway they had first walked into…this time walking out into the thinly snow-covered grass of the field.

The field was exactly as the Quidditch book had outlined through diagrams and written descriptions, with the three hoops at each end. Aimee noticeably perked up when she saw that the twins were standing next to several brooms and a box. She ran forward a few steps before slowing to a walk again, impatiently motioning for the other two to hurry up.

Fred and George hoisted Aimee up into the air upon her reaching them, and she yelled for them to put her down. Dani grumbled a bit more and made to sit on the ground, but was stopped when the twins decided to pick her up too. Her yells were considerably louder and less friendly than Aimee's, narrating such threats as several detailed variations of castration.

Lynn grimaced at Dani's language, knowing that the girl had never truly taken Madame Maxime's 'Ladylike Speech' lessons to heart. She gave Oliver a small smile as she approached.

"Good morning," She said quietly, "Sorry they woke you."

"No…it's alright." Oliver replied with a small smile, as though he were used to this sort of thing. Lynn noticed that the parts of his hair closest to the roots were still wet from the twins' version of a wakeup call.

"Alright then folks, down to business," George began as Dani and Aimee were returned to solid ground. "Have you all ever flown before?"

All three girls nodded.

"About how much, would you say?" Fred asked.

"Barely at all," Aimee grumbled, tones of bitterness more than evident in her voice. "Never got to do anything other then a few rounds around the palace grounds, and then that was it."

"Just another 'lady-like form of tranz-portation'," Dani added, ending with a practiced imitation of Maxime's accent and a trademark eyeroll.

"Well then, here you can fly about as much as you want," George stated cheerfully.

His announcement was met with an enthusiastic cheer from Aimee, who immediately demanded the use of one of the spare brooms. Convincing Dani proved to be little harder, as she grumbled but was thrilled nonetheless at the prospect of experiencing something dear Fleur hadn't.

"Not going to try?" Oliver asked Lynn, who had strayed to the edges of the group, folding her arms and standing to watch the other two try instead.

"No…think I'll just watch," She said quietly, eying the rapid progress of Aimee's twentieth lap around the pitch.

"Oh, come on," said Oliver, "Should at least try once."

Lynn looked at him, unimpressed by the idea, but he only grinned at her, took her hand and lead her over to the remaining broom.

"Are you sure about this?" Lynn asked quietly, as she climbed up to sit behind him on the broom.

"Of course I am," Oliver replied, "Just don't let go and you'll be fine."

"Don't let go of what?" Lynn asked, confusedly looking for a space on the handle that she could hang onto.

Oliver shook his head in front of her and didn't answer, instead taking the moment to push off from the ground without warning. At first it was only a slow ascent into the air, the sky the only thing in sight. Lynn could hear Aimee whooping and yelling with delight in the background, and even Dani as well. She chanced a glance over at them and saw that the twins were passing a bright red ball between them all as they traveled the field slowly.

"Ready?" Came Oliver's voice from in front of her.

_Ready for what?_ Lynn thought as she stared at the back of his head uncomprehending.

Without any further warning, Oliver had nudged forward on the front of the handle. The broom that had previously traveled along at a steady and leisurely pace was suddenly lurching forward to jet-like speed.

Lynn gasped in surprise and threw her arms around Oliver's stomach to steady herself, having been throw off balance by the sudden change. She heard him chuckle lightly at her as the fly up straight into the sky, then in circles, and twisting through the clear blue skies. The cold air rushed past her face, almost blistering her cheeks with harshness.

"Yeah Lynn!" The tiny blonde figure of Aimee called up from below. Lynn could barely see her friend through the cold that had teared up her eyes.

The Quidditch pitch began to seem farther and farther away, and Lynn looked forward again to spot why. Oliver had steered the broom over the bleachers, and was flying it high over the lake and surrounding forest. The glistening waters of the Black Lake seemed almost picturesque from so high up, the green treetops of Forbidden Forest doing nothing to subtract from the almost daydream reminiscent image.

The corners of Lynn's mouth curled upward in content. She had not become completely comfortable with the speed of the broom; her stomach erupting into terrifying butterflies each time the broom changed direction. Having settled into an almost manageable pace, though, she found that she could enjoy the view if she kept her head bowed behind Oliver's back to block the wind.

Oliver glanced back at her content smile, and made a wide circle over the lake before turning back.

"Had fun you two?" Fred called up playfully, spotting them appearing from over the bleachers.

Lynn laughing slightly and Oliver grinned. The twins had started up a two-on-two match of Quidditch with one of the girls on each team, and Aimee came whistling by.

"Oh hey!" She greeted, her usually pale face tinged with pink. "Well now that you two are back, WE CALL LYNN!"

Dani and George abruptly stopped play to fly over to the group as well at this announcement.

"That's not fair…then Oliver won't have a broom," Dani said indignantly.

"Oh don't worry about him, surely he can sprout wings!" Fred replied.

Oliver rolled his eyes.

George looked offended, "Don't call me Shirley!"

His twin looked appalled at this and they lead off into a long fight of bickering. Around them, the girls exchanged glances before heading to the ground to land. Upon landing on solid ground, Lynn became suddenly aware of her arms still wrapped around Oliver's chest, and she cleared her throat quietly before pulling them back to herself and stepping off.

"Wasn't it awesome Lynn!" Aimee shouted, bounding over to the older girl from wear she had jumped off of her own still floating broom.

Lynn glanced at Oliver briefly before nodding.

"It was nice, but can we _please_ eat now!?" Dani said exasperatedly as she approached.

"Sure," Lynn replied.

"Somebody alert the Doublemint twins," Dani stated, her voice still as sarcastic as ever.

"Oi, you two! Time for food!" Aimee called up to the twins before walking off to the castle with Dani.

Oliver let out a short laugh at the girls' sudden departure, but didn't follow them right away. Lynn watched the twins fly right over the Quidditch pitch's entrance before looking shyly up at the boy. She could feel a faint blush creeping up her cheeks as he caught her eye.

"Thanks for the ride," She said shortly, smiling and turning away.

Oliver looked after her leaving figure for a moment with a slight smile on his face. Shaking his head, he ran to catch up with her and they both joined the others' single-minded march toward breakfast.


	9. Arrival

As Dani, Lynn, and Aimee walked into the castle's Entrance Hall, they found that quite a bit of the décor had been altered to suit the ball. Pixies, ice sculptures, and a huge fancy chandelier were only a few things that differed from its usual state. Quite a few other people were milling about outside the entrance of the Great Hall, either waiting for their dates to arrive or simply putting off going in to see everyone else dressed up.

Dani was the first to sigh in relief as she saw that the teachers had already entered the hall. Not only that, but Fleur was safely standing within the group of champions off to the side. Her date, which they had learned was Roger Davies, captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, was looking sickeningly pleased with himself.

"Over here!" Came a call from the girls' right.

All three of them turned to see one of the red-haired twins waving to them. As they came up to the group, they saw that there were two unfamiliar faces there.

"Good evening," Fred greeted in a mockingly formal tone.

He bowed low to the ground, taking Aimee's hand and kissed it all with a straight face. She played along, curtsying in a manner scarily typical of Beauxbatons. She was wearing a very simple pale yellow dress, and her hair just let to hang down straight.

"Everyone meet my date, Angelina," George said as his twin straightened once more.

The pretty African-American girl smiled sweetly from next to him in her floor length silver dress. The girls all nodded to her politely, not having time to introduce themselves as Fred continued for his twin.

"And this is the young lad who'll be escorting the fair _Daniella_ to the Yule Ball this evening, Seamus Finnigan."

A brown haired boy next to Ron and Harry gave a small wave. Dani smiled at him, but seemed busy glaring at Fred for the use of her full name. He only grinned back at her, ever pleased to have bothered some poor innocent soul.

"Um…" Aimee spoke up, "Hate to be rude and all, but what's happened to your robes?"

She nodded toward Ron and giggled. His dress robes appeared to be made out of some sort of shabby antique curtain material, complete with frilled sleeves and a rather pathetic-looking bonnet.

The crowd standing around him laughed as Ron's face turned red. In support for his friend, Harry managed to stifle his own laughter and look towards the floor.

Ron mumbled something along the lines of, "hand me downs…..bloody….ridiculous…Aunt Tessie" among the laughter.

Though Dani next to her was on the brink of tears from laughing so hard, Lynn simply gave Ron a sympathetic look.

"Here, I can fix it up a bit," she said.

Ron had no objections to help, as he failed to see how his current situation could get any worse. Taking her wand from the purse Dani held loosely in her arms, Lynn eyed the fringy sleeves. She muttered something under her breath and pointed her wand at one of them.

In a flash, the odd frills swirled up into nothingness, and the tight ends of the sleeve were released so it hung loosely by his side.

"Whoa…" Ron gasped.

Lynn smiled slightly, and did the same with the other sleeve. She pointed her wand at each area of distasteful fringe in turn, ridding the garment of all frills and odd-looking ends.

"There," She said finally, handing her wand back to a sobered Dani, "It's the best I can do."

"Thank you," Ron said squeakily in gratitude, inspecting his now frill-free dress robes.

Fred and George looked deeply disappointed at the loss of something to taunt their dear brother about. Aimee had a sour look on her face as well. They all quickly recovered as Professor McGonagall came round shooing everyone into the Great Hall.

"Shall we?" George asked a blushing Angelina, offering out his arm.

She nodded, and the two of them continued on into the Great Hall, George looking very pleased with himself.

Aimee rolled her eyes at George's antics, and Fred lifted his nose a full five inches into the air to rival his twin's.

"Milady, it appears that our awe inspiring presence has been requested elsewhere," He said snootily to Aimee.

She nodded similarly and took his arm. The students nearby shot bewildered looks as the two of them began waltzing haughtily through the great oak doors.

"I suppose we should go meet Parvati and Padma then," Harry said.

He nudged Ron next to him, who seemed still in awe of his robes.

"What? Oh…yeah, sure," He conceded.

"We'll see you inside then," Harry said, nodding at the remaining group and walking off to find his date.

The only remaining souls of the group were Dani, Seamus, Lynn, and Oliver, who had stayed silent since the girls had arrived. There was an awkward silence for a few moments, as Oliver was busy staring at Lynn and Lynn was busy avoiding his eyes. Seamus and Dani, as unfamiliar as they were with each other, exchanged knowing looks.

"Uh…we're just going to be going in now," Dani said, catching Lynn's eye and casting a meaningful look.

She grabbed Seamus' hand and slipped away before the older girl could protest, her light blue dress disappearing in the sea of entering students, and Lynn gaping hopelessly after her. The crowd of people surrounding them was slowly thinning, and Lynn glanced over at the staircase as a last resort.

Thankfully, she caught sight of Hermione slowly descending the stairs. She looked amazing, her hair in a curling up-do, and her magenta and pink dress swirling gracefully with every step.

"She looks beautiful," Lynn said quietly.

"Yeah," Oliver agreed, "So do you."

Lynn blushed and looked up at him doubtfully.

She was wearing a pale lavender dress with thin straps and a sloping back, and Dani had insisted upon her wearing silver heels and small earrings. It was only after a long argument over what Madame Maxime would punish her with that her long golden hair was left down. It fell in slightly curly waves nearly down to her waist, although some of it was swept off to one side of her face.

"Everyone please gather into the Great Hall!" came the harried call of Professor McGonagall.

The older witch was dressed in fine deep green dress robes, and was rushing about the entrance hall gathering the last few lingering students. Lynn and Oliver were herded into the decorated hall along with everyone else, and ended up just alongside the edge of the cleared dance floor.

The trumpets sounded only moments after they had settled into place, sparing Lynn any hasty moments of awkwardness. The champions entered among the fanfare, walking straight down the aisle and onto the dance floor. First came Fleur and Roger Davies, Fleur in all her fairy princess splendor. Next was Viktor Krum, with a beaming but beautiful Hermione at his arm. She smiled nervously at Lynn as they entered the dance floor, and Lynn smiled back reassuringly. Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory came next, and then finally Harry and Parvati Patil. The champions began dancing in a flurry of violins and graceful dancing arms.

Sometime between Igor Karkaroff and Professor Sinistra and Neville and Ginny, Oliver took Lynn's hand and led her gently onto the floor. Under any normal circumstance, she would have protested, but she hadn't truly noticed what was happening until they were already in place and beginning the next counts of music.

Lynn glancing nervously at Maxime as she was spun around in prerequisite to the dance, but the towering headmistress seemed preoccupied, and hadn't noticed the girl. As she was spun back around to face her partner, Oliver caught her eye.

_Don't worry about it_, he mouthed, obviously having caught her glance.

His brown eyes bore into hers with meaningful intensity, but she still felt distinctly uneasy. Her eyes glanced nervously once again towards the staff. This time though, it wasn't Madame Maxime that caught her eye, and she ended up looked straight toward the bright blue eyes of Professor Dumbledore. There was a kind twinkle in his eye…which made Lynn wonder if he truly knew more about Madame Maxime's doings than it seemed.


End file.
